"The Philippine archipelago is very diverse in its ethnographical and ethnological conditions, and, therefore, it is very difficult to frame a law which is adapted to its general necessities, unless one has an accurate and profound knowledge of the situation and conditions of each and every one of the thirty-some provinces which form the archipelago.
"Another of the greatest defects which we observe in the present government is the inequality and lack of justice in the appointments of government positions, as between Filipinos and Americans, with the exception of the judiciary which is the department most evenly distributed.
"In the civil commission and in the provincial boards the voice of the Filipino is not in the majority, neither, therefore, is the voice of the people. It is true that the municipalities appear to operate with the fullest liberty, but this liberty is restricted, because the provincial board exercise direct control over all their acts, so that municipal autonomy is, as a matter of fact, nominal.
"The most noble and acceptable institution which American government has established here is that of public instruction. Even the officials in that department are also the best liked and those upon the most friendly terms with the Filipino people, although defects are not entirely absent as is the case with every human creation. Against this department we can say nothing up to the present. God grant that it may continue so for many years, without being affected by the discord and prejudice which the enemies of the country seek to sow.
"With respect to the economic phase, we could be no worse off than we are now, and this can be easily explained. Since the year 1896, in which the revolution against Spain commenced, the Philippines have gone from bad to worse in all their economic conditions, particularly in the matter of agriculture which is the sole source of their wealth. Of 56,000,000 acres of land which we have fit for cultivation, only 6,000,000 acres are cultivated and 50,000,000 are not cultivated. War, drouth, cholera and rinderpest among our work animals, have prostrated us to such an extent that all which the farmer might say of the situation pales before the reality. To these inferior troubles must be added others on the outside, the lack of market for our sugar; Japan, protecting herself from Formosa, raises her custom tariff upon sugar; China, with the boycott, closes her market to us because of our relations with America, and rich America, which should protect us, also closes her doors to us with a Dingley tariff.
"To sum up, the Philippines have no money, they have no production, they have no market. Could there be a harder situation?
"The plantations paralyzed and the laborers without work—thus rises the germ of ladronism. The scarcity of money is such that in order to find a dollar to-day one needs a searchlight, and to make matters worse the articles of prime necessity rise in price, making existence almost impossible for the poor workman.
"In the time of the Spanish government there were in circulation some two hundred million of Mexican pesos, to-day we have hardly thirty million, according to the last report of the secretary of finance, a sum which, when divided among eight million inhabitants, gives 3.75 pesos per capita.
"If to this we add the stoppage of all business through the paralysis of commerce and the industries, it will be seen that with 3.75 pesos for each inhabitant, pauperism, hunger and misery are necessary consequences.
"Here we have the actual state of the Philippines, whose competition the powerful sugar trust in America still fears. America needs three million tons of sugar for her home consumption; her production amounts to only one million tons, so that she must import two million tons from abroad. The Philippines produce only three million piculs of sugar, or about 187,500 tons. Is it possible to dream of competition?